District Regulations

As trustee for the community, the Board continually defines, redefines and articulates district Ends to answer the recurring question—who gets what benefits for how much? This task requires the Board to maintain an ongoing two-way conversation with the entire community. The purpose of the conversation is to allow the Board to hear and understand the community’s educational aspirations and desires, to advocate effectively for continuous improvement, and to inform the community of the district’s performance.

The Board of Education represents the public interest in maintaining education programs that best serve the aims of the community and the state. The Board is primarily responsible for determining what the community wants from its public schools and is willing to pay for.

1. The Board is the link between the School District and the community at-large.
2. The Board will maintain written governing policies that clearly define and describe:
   • Board Processes: Specifications for how the Board conceives, carries out, and monitors its own work.
   • Board/Superintendent Relationship: How authority is delegated and its proper use monitored; the superintendent’srole, authority, and accountability.
   • Limitations on Executive Authority: Constrains the superintendent’s authority by establishing the boundaries of prudence and ethics within which all executive action must take place.
   • Ends: District products (benefits, outcomes, effects), their recipients, and their relative worth (what good, for what needs, at what cost).
3. The Board will assess the superintendent’s performance.
4. Board decisions will be based on the best available information, including factual data where possible.
5. The Board will adopt a district budget with revenue and spending parameters, and a system for monitoring financial performance.
6. The Board will assess its own performance.
7. The Board is expected to regularly check District email to be up to date with communications.

The Board is a group of seven equals: each member takes full responsibility for Board activity and behavior. The task of the Board President is the facilitation of the work of the Board and its ability to comply with its working agreements and mutual expectations. The Board President will assume responsibility for facilitating the relationship between the superintendent and the Board. The Board will elect a member for this important position who is well suited to the responsibilities.

1. In addition to the duties and responsibilities imposed upon the office by state law, the President of the Board of Education is empowered by the Board to 4 ensure that Board behavior is consistent with its own rules and those legitimately imposed upon it by law. Specifically, the President will strive to ensure that:
   • TheBoard will deal only with those issues, which, according to Board policy, clearly belong to the Board to decide, not those falling within the purview of the superintendent.
   • Deliberations will be fair, open, and thorough, as well as efficient, timely, orderly, and to the point.
2. The authority of the President is limited to making decisions that fall within the topics covered by the Board’s policies on Board Process and BoardSuperintendent Relationship, except where the Board specifically delegates portions of this authority to others. The President is authorized to use any reasonable interpretation of the provisions in these policies.
   • The President is empowered to chair Board meetings within the rules of order adopted by the Board and the commonly accepted duties of that position (e.g., ruling on motions, recognizing speakers.)
   • In the absence of specific Board directions to the contrary, neither the President nor any other member of the Board has authority to alter Board policy or to supervise or direct the superintendent.
   • The President may represent theBoard to outside partisan announcingBoard-stated positions and in stating the President’s decisions and interpretations within the area delegated to him or her.
   • The President may delegate this authority, but remains accountable for its use.

Board committees are distinguished from committees created under the authority of the superintendent, regardless of whether Board members sit on the committee. The only Board committees are those which are created by the Board, responsible to the Board and which meet standards set forth below:

1. The Committee of the Whole will serve as a primary forum for Board discussion and deliberation. Other committees will be used sparingly and ordinarily in an ad hoc capacity. These committees, when used, will be designed to reinforce the wholeness of the Board’s job and never to interfere with the superintendent’s delegated authority. Unless otherwise provided in Board policy, a committee ceases to exist as soon as its task is complete. Board members will decide among themselves, which members will have responsibility to act as liaisons and discussion facilitators for specific areas of Board business, e.g., building, education, finance, etc.
2. Board committees are to help the Board do its job, providing feedback to staff but not doing the staff’s work of implementing the Board’s direction.
3. Board committees are advisory only and may not make decisions, take or authorize staff action, or substitute for the full Board’s deliberative procession any decision or action to come before the Board.
4. Board committees are to help the Board do its job, not to help or advise the staff. Committees ordinarily will assist the Board by preparing policy alternatives and implications for Board deliberation. In keeping with the Board’s broader focus, Board committees will normally not have direct dealings with current staff operations.
5. Board committees may not speak or act for the Board except when formally given such authority for specific and time-limited purposes.Expectations and authority will be carefully stated in order not to conflict with authority delegated to the superintendent.
6. Board committees cannot exercise authority over staff. Because the superintendent works for the full Board, he or she will not be required to obtain approval of a Board committee before an executive action.
7. Board committees are to avoid over identification with organizational parts rather than the whole. Therefore, a Board committee, which has helped the Board create a policy, will not be used to monitor organizational performance on that policy

The Board will develop and follow an annual agenda which (a) completes an annual re-exploration of Ends policies and (b) continually improvesBoard performance through board development activities. The superintendent and the Board President will construct meeting agendas that provide an orderly method of conductingBoard business. All members of the Board are invited to place items of appropriate Board work on the agenda. The Board may vote to remove an item from the agenda that it deems not to be appropriate Board work.

The Board will develop and publicize reasonable rules for members of the public to address the Board at each open meeting, whether regular or special.

Every Board policy adopted by the Board shall be promptly included in the written Board policy manual and distributed to all affected individuals.

Each member of the Community Consolidated School District 62 Board of Education ascribes to the following code of conduct: (The following Code of Conduct was adopted by the Board of Directors of the Illinois Association of School Boards as a recommended model for member School Boards.)

Code of Conduct for Members of School Boards As a member of my local board of education, I shall do my utmost to represent the public interest in education by adhering to the following standards and principles:

1. I will represent all School District constituents honestly and equally and refuse to surrender my responsibilities to special interest or partisan political groups.
2. I will avoid any conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety, which could result from my position, and will not use my Board membership for personal gain or publicity.
3. I will recognize that a Board member has no legal authority as an individual and that decisions can be made only by a majority vote at a board meeting.
4. I will take no private action that might compromise the Board or administration and will respect the confidentiality of privileged information.
5. I will abide by majority decisions of the Board, while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels.
6. I will encourage and respect the free expression of opinion by my fellow Board members and will participate in Board discussions in an open, honest and respectful manner, honoring differences of opinion or perspective.
7. I will prepare for, attend and actively participate in School Board meetings.
8. I will be sufficiently informed about and prepared to act on the specific issues before the Board, and remain reasonably knowledgeable about local, state, national, and global education issues.
9. I will respectfully listen to those who communicate with the Board, seeking to understand their views, while recognizing my responsibility to represent the interests of the entire community.
10. I will strive for a positive working relationship with the Superintendent, respecting the Superintendent's authority to advise the Board, implement Board policy, and administer the District.
11. I will model continuous learning and work to ensure good governance by taking advantage of Board member development opportunities, such as those sponsored by my state and national school board associations, and encourage my fellow Board members to do the same.
12. I will strive to keep my Board focused on its primary work clarifying the District purpose, direction and goals, and monitoring District performance.

The Board and its individual members are committed to faithful compliance with the provisions of the Board’s policies. In the event of a member’s violation of policy, the Board will seek remedy by the following process:

1. First, conversation in a private setting between the offending member and the Board president or other individual member;

2. Second, discussion in a Board self-evaluation between the offending member and the full Board with a member of the IASB;

3. As a last resort, and only after thoughtful deliberation, the Board may vote to censure the offending member of the Board.

Section 10-16a of the School Code and Board Policy 2:120 requires that school board members elected or appointed to their seat must complete within the first year of their term a minimum of four hours of professional development leadership training covering topics in education and labor law, financial oversight and accountability, and fiduciary responsibilities of a board member.

Individual Board member development opportunities, which ensure good governance and model life-long learning, will be equally available to all Board members. Board members are encouraged to take advantage of development opportunities. The Board will provide new Board member orientation in addition to those opportunities provided by the superintendent and outside sources.

The School Board will conduct an annual self-evaluation.

In order to protect the Board in the event of sudden loss of superintendent services, the superintendent shall assure that no fewer than one other staff member is familiar with Board and superintendent issues and processes and is capable of assuming superintendent responsibilities on an interim basis, should unexpected need arise.